Lugar was defeated in today’s Republican primary election by Treasurer Richard Mourdock, ending his bid for a seventh term in the U.S. Senate.

It wasn’t even close.

With 70 percent of the vote counted, Mourdock had 60 percent to Lugar’s 40 percent.

Mourdock will face Democrat U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly and Libertarian Andy Horning in the November election.

This is not really a surprise.

Senator Richard Lugar was too old, too establishment, too liberal for Indiana and stayed in office way too long. Indiana voters just wanted somebody else and a Senator who more closely identified with them.

Here is a video highlighting Senator Lugar’s career:

As I have said for months, the handwriting was on the wall, it was time for Lugar to retire.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speaks with reporters off the Senate floor before a series of votes on Capitol Hill in Washington. Lugar’s allies have largely disappeared from the television airwaves just days before Tuesday’s primary, a sign that even friends of the six-term Republican think he’s in trouble and could lose to tea party-backed challenger Richard Mourdock

I join commonsense conservatives in endorsing Richard Mourdock to be the next Senator from Indiana. Conservatives of all stripes are uniting behind Richard Mourdock. It’s not just Indiana that benefits from sending the right Senator to serve for the right reasons; the nation as a whole benefits, and that is one reason why the eyes of so many around the nation are focused on the Indiana race.

Indiana deserves a conservative in the Senate who will fight for the Hoosier State, uphold our Constitution, and not just go along to get along with the vested interests of the permanent political class in D.C.

Richard Mourdock is the conservative choice for Indiana. Senator Lugar’s 36 years of service as a Senator are appreciated, but it’s time for the torch to pass to conservative leadership in Washington that promises to rein in government spending now.

Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock puts his most potent hits against incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar into one strong 30-second ad, which will begin airing today on broadcast and cable TV statewide. A disappointed-sounding older male narrator: “When Dick Lugar moved to Washington, he left behind more than his house. He left behind his conservative Hoosier values – voting for more earmarks, Obama’s liberal Supreme Court choices, amnesty for illegals, even supporting a $1 a gallon gas tax. Now they call him Obama’s favorite Republican. Lugar’s been in Washington for 36 years. That’s too long. Time for a change.” For the next 13 days, this is the hottest race in America.

Here is the ad:

This is a tough race for Senator Lugar.

He may win a narrow victory, but I would not be surprised if Indiana nominates Mourdock. Lugar has been there a long time and some would say too long.